Neighbors say this intersection needs some changes to make it safer (WFSB)

NEW HAVEN, CT (WFSB) -

For months, neighbors near a busy and dangerous New Haven intersection have complained about speeding cars, poor site-lines, and a number of accidents.

After repeated requests for stop signs, and being told no, the city is now changing its tune.

"Traffic barrels down Russell Street, and you have the sight line problem with Clifton. They also come down from Clifton this way speeding. by the time they get here, its mayhem,” said William Manning of New Haven.

He said the traffic is so bad at the corner of Russell and Clifton streets, he and his wife keep their children out of their front yard.

"We don't let them play out here, and we don't let them go near the sidewalk,” Manning said.

That's because twice cars have smashed through their fence. Once in September and then again, just last month.

Manning says they've been asking for two additional stop signs to make it a four-way, and neighbors are hopeful it will cut down on the speed.

"If they're coming down from this way, they rarely slow down,” said Kristina Bejic, of New Haven.

The police department did traffic enforcement, but as for two new stop signs, the city originally said no, saying it didn't meet the state and federal standards, but would keep looking at it.

So, Manning and his wife went door to door, gathering signatures and dropping the petition off at city hall.

Then after that crash last month, the city revisited the intersection.

"After four months of reviewing it and receiving the crash data, going over crash data, we also looked at site-line geometry,” said Doug Hausladen, of New Haven’s Department of Transportation, Traffic, and Parking. “We came to the conclusion that there wasn't enough site-line stoppage to make a course correction should you come over the hill."

The city is now recommending two additional stop signs, something neighbors and Manning are grateful for.

"No one wants that to be the case, worst case scenario. Let’s do something before it becomes that and now it seems like it’s getting a proper response,” Manning said.

He added that they'll be at the traffic commissioner's meeting later this month, with their petition.

If the commissioners approve the recommendation, the city says the stop signs will go up shortly after that.